Professor Gil Garnier

Professor Gil Garnier works in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Monash University and is the Director of the Australian Pulp and Paper Institute (APPI).

Professor Gil Garnier works in the Department of Chemical Engineering atMonashUniversityand is the Director of the Australian Pulp and Paper Institute (APPI). His current research interests are focused on the application of colloids and polymers to surfaces, adhesion,composites, and the process of paper making. At APPI he is head of a multidisciplinary team which uses nanotechnology forsurface engineering, bioprinting and the development of novel specialty papers.

Development of these applications will have a profound impact on the health of society and on the environment. For instance, bioprinting can make testing for diabetes-2 more accessible, cheaper and environment friendly by eliminating the use of plastics and materials in novel once-only applications. In the environment, use of bioprinting allows for the effective testing for toxins in water to establish its purity.

Professor Garnier and Dr Wei Shen are also investigating the printing of living cells. A proof of their success is the recent ‘black and white’ picture of the Monash Surface Engineering team printed on paper with a single protein. This accomplishment confirms the practicality of printing functional fluid as a novel manufacturing process. Printing for producing flexible and inexpensive solar panel is the next challenge.

The success of the group lies in multidisciplinary collaborations with experts in the fields of surface and material science, printing, biochemistry and biomaterials. Professor Garnier works closely with his colleagueDr Wei Shen, from Monash’s Chemical Engineering Department, withDr George Thouas from Biological Engineering, and DrJohn Forsythe in theDepartment of Materials Engineering andin the Cooperative Research Centre for Polymers.

There are wider applications in water treatment, food technology, tissue engineering and pharmacology that the Surface Engineering Research group is conducting. In his broader research, Professor Garnier is investigating the properties of paper with ceramic fibres (catalytic paper) by using nanomaterials in the adsorption process of carbon dioxide. In this project he is collaborating with Professor Paul Webley in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Professor Garnier and Dr Warren Batchelor (Chemical Engineering Monash) are developing a paper to act as a field membrane, capable of retaining moisture in the soil, to increase crop yields.

Associate Professor Mibel Aguilar and Professor Garnier are conducting research into the grafting of proteins.

Cho, B.U., Garnier, G., Van de Ven, T.G.M. and Perrier, M. “A bridging model for the effects of a dual component flocculation system on the strength of fiber contacts in flocs of pulp fibers: Implications for control of paper uniformity”, Colloid and Surfaces A, 287 (1-3) pp. 117-125 (2006).

Yu, L., and Garnier, G.Mechanism of Internal Sizing with Alkyl Ketene Dimers: The Role of Vapour Deposition.Fundamentals of Papermaking Materials, Transactions of the 11th Fundamental Research Symposium in the Oxford and Cambridge Series, Vol. 2, pp 1021-1046 (Sept. 1997).